WASHINGTON — Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe probably thought he was just ending his speech with a flourish on Friday night.
Speaking to a crowd estimated at about 12,000 gathered in Richmond for the opening ceremony of the Union Cycliste Internationale Road World Championship, McAuliffe finished by inviting everyone over for a beer, The Washington Post reports.
But three cycling fans took it seriously. They headed to the Executive Mansion on Saturday to take McAuliffe up on his offer.
The guards “kind of chuckled,” said Lillian Dunlevy, 35, of Richmond, told The Post. They said “he says that in every speech,” The Post says. Dunlevy tells The Post that she and her group asked whether they were the only ones to take the governor up on it, and that the guards replied, “pretty much.”
Still, they stayed.
Dunlevy and Richmond lawyer Harry Doyle decided to wait it out on a lark, The Post says, but for Doyle’s nephew, Bryan DeWitt, it was serious business.
“It all seemed fake, phony, and it all seemed like what’s wrong with politics — zero substance and all pandering,” DeWitt told The Post.
It worked. After about 45 minutes, McAuliffe emerged fresh from a workout, brought them inside and poured them beer from the Richmond-based brewery Hardywood.
They stayed for about 20 minutes, drinking and chatting. Dunlevy and Doyle pronounced themselves thrilled to have made it that far, while DeWitt felt he’d proved his point.
“Politicians are going to say junk, and you can’t just complain,” DeWitt told The Post. “It’s up to the people to make them accountable for what they do.”
